If Eagles Did Not Exist, Could Falcons Evolve Into Their Niche?

This is related to the question as to whether or not cetaceans in an alternate Earth be related to a different group.

The small but mercurial falcons belong to one order and one family--Falconiformes and Falconidae. They catch and kill their prey with their beaks.

By contrast, the other group of raptors, Accipitriformes, consisting of hawks, eagles and Old World vultures, to name a few, catch and kill their prey with the claws on their feet.

Now let us imagine ourselves in an alternate Earth where Accipitriformes either:

a) became extinct
b) never existed.

In this sort of situation, we'd expect the falcons to evolve into a greater diversity of shapes, sizes and colors.

Would falcons all still kill with their beaks, or would some of them evolve to fill the now-empty niche of the eagles and hawks and kill with their feet?

posted over 7 years ago

JohnWDailey‭

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